Rosa J. Martinez

Our beautiful, vibrant, intelligent, powerful mother, Rosa Martinez Choroco, aged 86 years old passed away on Sunday, June 9, 2024, at her home in Watertown, NY.  It has been a rough past 3 years for all of us.  Our exemplary father passed 2 years ago, our amazing sister, Guisella, passed last year and now less than 1 year later, our strength, our pillar, and our guide to life, leaves us. 

Our mom, Rosa, had unique, noble attributes that all whose lives she touched truly understand.  She was the most compassionate, giving, selfless and most positive person we have ever known.  She had a special way of easing our pain, anxiety, doubts, fear and always emitted positive energy making us feel immune to any negative aura. 

She loved our father more than she cared to admit at times, but since his passing, we all noted a steady decline in energy, enthusiasm and willingness to accept a life without our father.  Ultimately, her multiple medical conditions took over and lastly, recurrent strokes took her life.  She tried vigorously to stay with us but sometimes the body cannot keep up with the brain.

In her lifetime, she was first generation immigrant from Peru, who, with my father, raised 5 independent, strong, willful, intelligent daughters. In addition, she fostered many of our teenage friends and allowed them to live in our home while lending a helping hand during times of need. She became a self-made business owner and ran a very successful private car service in NYC.  She further fed into her passion of cooking and created a catering service with high-end, delicacies and typical Peruvian dishes.  She used the proceeds of her catering business to fund large medical donations, such as dialysis machines and hospital beds to rural towns in the surrounding areas of Lima. She created a non-profit organization that provided humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters in Puno, Peru. This organization also awarded scholarships to young Peruvian girls to learn about computers, dressmaking and offered free English classes.  She revitalized the Club of Peru in Queens, NY, a community center in the 1980s and gave many Peruvian immigrants a place where they could share in their Peruvian cultures, customs, foods and celebrate their heritage during special holidays and occasions.  She served as President of this organization until she moved to Watertown, NY in 2006.  Her ability to be an entrepreneur and community activist earned her many accolades during her lifetime.  Among the awards she received were acknowledgements from Peruvian Department of Health, National Hospital Association, Borough of Queens Citation of Honor for President, Peruvian American Community Center, Outstanding Peruvian Citizen, Honor of Merit, Senor de los Milagros Hermandad, Appreciation Certificate for donation of Medical Equipment, Bronx, NY, and Honorary Recognition for Humanitarian Work.  Her most distinguished award was a Proclamation issued by the US House of Representatives on July 19, 2019, in celebration of her 55 years of outstanding leadership and contributions to the Peruvian community.

Our mother and father raised a beautiful family, and we are all proud of our parents and the tools and skills they embedded in all of us to achieve success, not only in our professional endeavors but success in raising our own families with values that are scarcely seen in today’s society.  They taught us what having family pride is all about, having compassion for your neighbor, loving selflessly and no matter what, putting your children first instead of yourself, and lastly knowing how to love ourselves first so that we can then genuinely give that same love to others.  Our mother loved her grandchildren more than anything and loved her great grandchildren even more.  Both of our parents saw their great grandchildren as an extension of our Peruvian roots.

Our mother is survived by her 4 daughters, Martha Goodman (Andy), Patricia Choroco Vera (Ediward), Milly Smith (Jeffrey), Veronica Cavallaro (Michael), 7 grandchildren Harry Southwell (Lily), Noel Goodman (Eva), Carlos Vergaray Smith (Fern), Nataly Sanchez, Estevan, Iliana & Neicia Smith, and 5 great grandchildren, Ethan, Bethany, & Elizabeth Goodman, Renzo & Talia Vergaray Smith.

Our mother and what she stood for in life will live forever in our family legacy. Mothers are the thread that holds the family fabric together and for us to be as fortunate to learn from our mother’s emotional IQ, intellect, selflessness, nobility, generosity, and goodness are priceless gifts that we had the honor to receive.  We will stand strong and live out our mother’s legacy and we will continue to make her proud.  If it were not for our mother, these words, this life and this tribute to her would not exist.

GRACIAS MAMA, SIEMPRE CON TODO NUESTRO AMOR!

**A Memorial service will be held on June 28, 2024 at 1pm at Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church 25-02 80th Street, Queens, NY. 

Local arrangements are with D.L. Calarco Funeral Home, Inc. Online condolences may be made to www.dlcalarco.com

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